When President Barack Obama first proposed his health care reform, it seemed America had finally seen the day when her citizens could avail themselves of a public health care option – at least, where needed.

But endless debate, town hall meetings and pontificating on news programs has beaten the idea of a public option to the veritable dust. Pundits and politicos on both sides of the aisle argue for and against it, and after much battering it remains unclear if the public option will stand up or not in final legislature.

The Public Option

The public option has become the sore point in the proposed health care reform. It’s considered by some right-wingers to be a highly liberal, leftist idea that solves nothing and serves to damage the health insurance industry. The public option is considered by others to be a flashy detraction from some of the real health care issues. With both sides deadlocked on the issue, there is fear that the public option has nowhere to go but back to the drawing board – perhaps never to be seen again.

Will we ever have a public option in health care? It’s likely any public option will fall far short of expectations, especially in a country that currently has 45.6 million uninsured citizens. The real issue is, there’s a lot more to health care reform than the public option. As long as so much time is spent on this one facet of health care, everything else remains undone.